Chapter 126

With the help of the intermediate healing potion, Berengar's injuries were quickly stabilized, but his body was still very weak. By the time he woke up, it was already the next day.

Because everyone's relationship with him couldn't be considered close, Eskel took the initiative to take on the task of taking care of him, staying by the fireplace in the hall and taking care of him all night.

When it was time for breakfast, Eskel helped the awakened Berengar to the dining table to dine with everyone.

Although the wording was a bit stiff and the voice was hoarse and dry, the man still sincerely expressed his gratitude to everyone, including Wayne's kindness in gifting the healing potion.

However, he still seemed very unaccustomed to getting along with everyone. Even when eating the delicious food cooked by Wayne, his expression was as if he were chewing wax. He kept his head down and ate silently throughout the whole process, not showing much joy.

And because of his presence, everyone's conversation wasn't as open as before, and the atmosphere at the dining table seemed a bit dull.

However, this scene didn't last long. After breakfast, Berengar took the initiative to bid farewell and, just like in the past, stayed in his room all day, no longer appearing in front of everyone at will.

And during this winter, no other events occurred at Kaer Morhen. The brothers of the Wolf School played Gwent when they had nothing to do, practiced swordplay, or learned and consolidated witcher monster knowledge in the library at Kaer Morhen, exchanging their experiences over the past year at the dining table.

When others learned that Geralt had spent most of the year with a sorceress named Yennefer, they all showed great curiosity, constantly asking the White Wolf about various details of his life, while also vaguely sensing the strong personality and extreme possessiveness of the sorceress Yennefer.

However, seeing Geralt's appearance of enjoying it, everyone didn't say anything more and could only silently give their blessings in their hearts.

In daily life, Wayne, as the youngest witcher, took the initiative to take on all the cooking work. Geralt was responsible for going out to hunt to obtain game and wild vegetables. Vesemir also had a burst of interest and renovated the vegetable field that Wayne had left behind before, replanting some vegetables that could grow in winter.

As for chores like chopping wood, raising horses, fishing, sweeping snow, and repairing the castle, they were all taken on by Lambert and Eskel.

Everyone was like a real family, sharing all the housework and living a quiet and peaceful life.

However, besides practicing swordplay, learning knowledge, cooking food, and taming the little direwolf White Fang using animal taming techniques, Wayne also had an extra job every day.

That was to deliver a portion to Berengar every day during meals, and by the way, help him change the herbs and bandages on his body.

According to what Vesemir had told him in private, Berengar was actually a bitter person—well, it should be said that most witchers were bitter people.

This person was a child he had rescued from a robber's den; his parents had already been killed by the robbers. Because he had no relatives, he was brought back to Kaer Morhen by Vesemir.

And among the eight children who trained with him and grew up together, only Berengar successfully completed all the trials and survived, but it was also the lowest-level genetic mutation experiment.

That experiment not only caused him to lose the ability to reproduce and lose all his friends of the same age, but also because of various physical and mental stimuli, his personality became very extreme.

And because the effect of the genetic mutation was not ideal, among all the current Wolf School witchers, Berengar's strength was the weakest.

Even after going outside the castle, when executing various witcher contracts, the difficulties he encountered were much greater than those of ordinary witchers.

Speaking of this, Vesemir also sighed and told Wayne:

"Looking back now, I'm not sure if bringing him back to Kaer Morhen and letting him become a witcher was right or wrong? This might have made him suffer more than letting him become a wandering orphan."

Regarding this, others might not know, but Wayne, who had played the first game, knew clearly that Berengar indeed extremely hated his witcher identity and longed to become an ordinary person, get married, and have children—this had always been his dream.

Decades later, the reason Berengar would reveal the information about Kaer Morhen was also because he had been subjected to long-term torture by the Salamandra, a choice he had to make when his life was threatened.

After meeting Geralt, he would also sacrifice his life to deal with the sorcerers of the Salamandra.

After all, for many witchers, life was too bitter. Not only did they always have to face the danger of monsters and physical pain, but they also had to face the strange looks of others.

And they were all long-lived species with long lifespans. If there were no accidents, this kind of torture might last for hundreds of years.

During dinner this day, Wayne held the fluffy White Fang, brought a dinner, and pushed open the door to Berengar's room.

He discovered that this man, who had always been very silent, was packing his luggage at this time. Although there were only a few old clothes, he was already prepared to leave.

Seeing Wayne come in, he pursed his lips, nodded silently at Wayne, and didn't speak.

Wayne placed the food on the table, looked at Berengar, whose injuries hadn't fully healed, thought for a moment, and although he felt it was a bit presumptuous, he still said: "Berengar, are you planning to leave alone tomorrow?"

Berengar's movements paused for a second, but he quickly returned to normal. He nodded, his voice revealing hoarseness and weakness, and said: "Yes, I plan to leave tomorrow."

Seeing that it was indeed so, Wayne sighed in his heart. There was no other way; he could only take advantage of the time before the person left to say what he was thinking.

"Leaving Kaer Morhen now is really too dangerous. Not only have your injuries not healed, but your equipment, horses, and supplies have been lost seven or eight times over, and now the heavy snow has just melted, and the weather outside is still very harsh. With your current physical condition, you might faint halfway."

Berengar looked at Wayne upon hearing this, still pausing for a few seconds before saying: "I know, but I still want to leave as soon as possible." Seeing that the other party was somewhat stubborn, Wayne was silent for a while and said straight to the point:

"Berengar, do you no longer want to be a witcher and want to escape this kind of life?"

Hearing Wayne's words, Berengar's movements seemed to freeze. He slowly raised his head, and his originally somewhat cold and hard expression became more vivid. He looked at Wayne and asked:

"Why would you think so, um, Wayne?"

Wayne stroked the direwolf cub he was holding in his arms, found a chair in Berengar's room to sit down, and then said:

"Vesemir told me about your experiences. Your life is always full of suffering; from childhood, misfortune has always accompanied you."

"Having this kind of thought is actually not strange, and many witchers have struggled with this problem for a long time."

"It's just that you express it more obviously."

Berengar lowered his head slightly, sighed, and said:

"Wayne, you are still young."

"When you have been a witcher for decades like me, and as a result, you still can't get enough to eat, can't sleep well, have no relatives, no friends, help those ignorant people clear monsters, not only don't get paid, but also get besieged by them and almost die..."

"You will understand why I hate being a witcher so much."

Wayne nodded upon hearing this. He roughly understood the pain of this kind of experience, but he was born with a system. Even if the reward from the employer in reality wasn't in place, he couldn't be short of money and couldn't experience this kind of miserable life.

After being silent for a few seconds, Wayne weighed his tone and said straight to the point: "In that case, Berengar, are you willing to work for me? Long-term work—perhaps decades, perhaps hundreds of years, until you want to retire."

"You don't need to worry about the trivial matters of life anymore, and you don't need to face various battles with monsters every day. I even have a way to help you hide your witcher identity, allowing you to live a life similar to an ordinary person."

"As long as you are loyal to me and don't betray me, perhaps the life you dream of can be realized."

Berengar was stunned upon hearing this, not expecting Wayne to say such things.

In his imagination, he thought the next scene would be two witchers pouring out their hearts and comforting each other. How did it suddenly become like this?

He was stunned for a full dozen seconds before asking in a somewhat hoarse voice: "You're hiring me? I remember you only just became a witcher this year."

"What are you hiring me for? Are we two going to execute contracts together?"

Wayne tilted his head and thought for a moment, saying:

"For now, it's work like a bodyguard or guard—safe and stable. Perhaps sometimes you will act as my helper and execute some missions with me."

"I will also solve the equipment and horse issues for you. You don't need to communicate with employers, and you don't need to deal with those ignorant people. I will handle everything, and you don't need to worry about the treatment."

As he spoke, Wayne showed a confident and gentle smile and said:

"To be honest, in terms of executing missions, I might not be as experienced as you, but when it comes to making money, that is what I am best at."

"If you agree to me, your recent work location should be near Wyzima city. You don't need to rush around anymore and can live a stable life in that city for a few years."

Berengar looked at Wayne for dozens of seconds upon hearing this. I don't know what kind of struggle and thinking went through his mind. Finally, he asked somewhat difficultly: "Why me? We aren't familiar, and you have no friendship?"

"Perhaps before last month, you didn't even know my name."

"How could you trust me so easily?"

Wayne sighed upon hearing this, his expression becoming serious as he said: "I don't completely trust you, Berengar. I just gave you a chance."

"We are all witchers, and we are all Wolf School witchers. We should naturally help each other. If in the end, you don't betray my trust, what I get is a good brother to whom I can entrust my life."

"And if it's me who misjudged, what I lose is just a little money."

"So the most important thing is whether you are willing to give yourself a chance and try to believe in me."

(End of chapter)